Cory Michael Smith Joins Joachim Trier’s Neon Dramedy ‘Sentimental Value’

EXCLUSIVE: Amid some of the best reviews of his career for his work in Sony’s Saturday Night, Cory Michael Smith has landed a supporting role in Sentimental Value, renowned Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier‘s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated romance The Worst Person in the World, sources tell Deadline.

Smith joins an ensemble led by The Worst Person breakout Renate Reinsve, which also includes Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning, as previously announced. He plays the agent of Fanning’s character, an American movie star who comes to Oslo, which is where the comedy-drama is shooting now through November, for release next year.

Marking Trier’s sixth feature outing, Sentimental Value is a portrait of a family in Oslo, the house they’ve lived in for generations, and how the past has a way of resurfacing in unexpected ways. Reinsve plays Nora, an acclaimed stage actress, who alongside younger sister Agnes (Lilleaas), sees their eccentric and charismatic father, Gustav (Skarsgård), suddenly step back into their lives after a long absence. Once a renowned film director, Gustav looks to make his comeback and make amends with Nora by offering her the lead role in his next film. But Nora wants nothing to do with her father or his film.

Trier wrote the script with longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt. Producers include Maria Ekerhovd for Mer Film and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar for Eye Eye Pictures in Norway. Co-producers of the Norwegian, French, German, Danish and Swedish co-production are Nathanael Karmitz for MK Productions and Juliette Schrameck for Lumen Production in France; Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach for Komplizen Film in Germany; Sisse Graum Jørgensen for Zentropa in Denmark; and Lizette Jonjic for Zentropa Sweden, as well as Film i Väst in Sweden.

Also backed by BBC Film in the UK, with Eva Yates as executive producer, the film was financed with the support of the Norwegian Film Institute, the Swedish Film Institute, Film i Väst, the French National Center of Cinema Film (CNC), Arte Grand Accord, The Danish Film Institute, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, FFA, Eurimages, Oslo Filmfond and Storyline. Mk2 Films is handling international sales, with Nordisk Film handling the film’s release in the Nordics, and Neon handling U.S. distribution.

For his turn as Chevy Chase in Jason Reitman’s big ensemble picture Saturday Night, which just touched down in Toronto after premiering at Telluride, Smith has consistently been cited as a stand-out. Depicting the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the very first taping of Saturday Night Live, the awards prospect opens September 27 in select theaters in Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto before going limited on October 4 and breaking wide on October 11, the anniversary of SNL‘s debut episode.

Last year, Smith was seen starring opposite Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in May December, a buzzy, Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated Netflix title, which marked his third outing with filmmaker Todd Haynes. In television, he recently wrapped filming the title role opposite Tatiana Maslany in the pilot for Amazon’s The Nightbeast.

Smith is represented by UTA and Circle Management + Production.